Quidditch and Cocoa
by trexie
Summary: Ignores last two books, Sirius is alive, and AU. At the end of his fifth year, Harry is given the opportunity to try out for the most sought after Quidditch School. DM/HP slash, and pranking.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:**** This is chapter is un-beta'd. I have more written, but I want ot get a feel on how the readers like it so far, before I post the other chapters. Sirius is alive in this, and Harry killed Voldemort at the Ministry. Once I see the response this gets, I'll rework the other chapters to fit, and maybe get a beta to work on this story. This chapter and the next will have a very jumpy timeline, but will focus on certain events. Other than that, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe. That honour belongs to J.K Rowling, and let's face it she's a way better writer than I am. I do however own a few OC's that are thrown into the story later. **

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_Q: What do you call a cow with a twitch?_

Harry walked into Dumbledore's office and was shocked to see Draco Malfoy and an unknown man waiting for him. They had just finished an unofficial quidditch match -Gryffindor vs. Slytherin-when he received a summons to see Dumbledore. Harry had hesitantly approached the office, hoping he wasn't going to be in trouble, but seeing Malfoy waiting already, didn't help his thoughts. Skipping over Malfoy, who didn't seem too upset over their summons, he took a moment to observe the unknown man. He was tall and fit, short brown hair and dark blue eyes. He studied Harry back, and once Harry assessed he wasn't a threat in anyway, he took a seat in the only empty chair. Focussing his attention on Dumbledore he spoke.

"Sir, you wanted to see me?"

"Ah yes!" Dumbledore clapped his hands together in joy. "Introductions I believe. This is Brent Maxwell," he gestured to the unknown man. Harry sent him a quick nod, before returning to Dumbledore. "Of course this is Mister Harry Potter, and Mister Draco Malfoy. I will let Brent explain everything." Dumbledore seemed quite content about something as he left the three in his office.

"Hello boys!" Maxwell exclaimed. He has a deep friendly voice, and very open continence. He leaned forward in his seat as if eager to explain his presence. "First let us start with, do you know about The Elite Quidditch Academy?" he asked.

"Eh?' Harry answered. The only thing he could guess was that this school involved quidditch, but didn't know why they were discussing it.

"It is the most exclusive and sought after Quidditch School, Potter and you call yourself a quidditch player." Malfoy drawled.

"Right you are Draco," Maxwell didn't see either the death glare directed at him by Malfoy, or he chose to ignore it. "The school only recruits the most talented players, and is ridiculously hard to get into. We were given a tip to check out your game today and let me say that you two impressed several others and me. The Seeker Quidditch Master expressed a great interest in having one of you to at least join us at the academy." Maxwell developed a huge smile when he was talking about the Seeker Quidditch Master.

"So you're saying were being offered a position at this academy?" Harry asked.

"Honestly Potter, he said it was hard to get into. One little match would not convince them to let us join. They have some other test before they would give out an offer." Malfoy sneered.

"Draco is right again. EQA does not accept students right away. We have a trial basis, where we closely watch your progress, talent, determination, and dedication to the sport. If you accept the trial basis, than for the summer, we will set up a quidditch training ground for you. Come September you would return to Hogwarts, and someone will randomly pop in to watch your practices and matches. If we decide we want you, than sometime in January you will be approached and given an official invitation to join the school for your seventh year." He explained. Maxwell also explained that the school was two years, and students were guaranteed offers from professional teams.

Harry didn't waste time in accepting the terms of the trial basis, and could barely sit still, anxiously waiting for the time he could go tell Ron and Hermione. Malfoy asked a few questions about the training facility they would set up, such as; would he have to share with Potter, was it accessible at all hours, and if they were being monitored there. Apparently, they wouldn't have to share facilities, they could train anytime, and only the times the check in and out of the training ground would be recorded, but someone from the academy might pop in.

Malfoy agreed and they were given an owl address and floo number, in case they needed anything, or had more questions. Maxwell left, and as soon as the door closed, Harry jumped up and rushed off to see his friends. Arriving at the Gryffindor Common Room, he couldn't keep the huge grin off his face, when he saw his entire house celebrating the end of exams.

Once he was spotted, all the students started cheering his name for his spectacular win against Slytherin earlier. Harry managed to quieten them down enough to mention he had an announcement. The music was stopped and all attention focussed on him as he stood on a table to address his house. Seeing that most of the students were present and waiting for him to talk, he started.

"I just returned from a meeting in the Headmasters office and I have been selected as a candidate for The Elite Quidditch Academy!" He yelled. The house erupted in cheers and congratulations for their leader. Harry smiled and calmed them down once again.

"I'm only a candidate! But next year they are going to watch random practices and games to determine if I'm suitable enough to go." The house erupted again, but this time with words of praise and encouragement. Harry got off the table and joined the celebration.

Harry stepped off the Hogwarts express. It was the end of his fifth year, and he had a full summer ahead. A few weeks ago, he had been tricked into going to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius. After a hard battle, Harry had managed to destroy Voldemort's soul when he was possessed. Harry was happy to discover that his godfather was perfectly fine. Sirius did not fall through the veil, as he had originally thought, Sirius had only fallen behind, and was perfectly safe.

* * *

Now exiting the train he looked around, until he spotted his godfather, waiting for him by the barrier with a huge grin. Grabbing his trunk Harry quickly made his way through the crowd and threw his arms around his godfather. "Sirius, I missed you!"

"Hey little prongs, you saw me not to long ago." Sirius laughed.

"Yes, but I have so much to tell you. I have been chosen as a possible student for The Elite Quidditch Academy." Harry whispered to his guardian. Harry was glad that after the whole Voldemort thing, Wormtail had been caught, and his godfather was set free. Now they had the chance to be a real family, and grow closer.

"Really? That is wonderful Harry! We need to celebrate. Say goodbye to your friends and we'll head home and celebrate." Harry nodded and quickly found to his friends to bid them farewell. Once he returned to Sirius, he had been apparated to a fair sized seaside cottage. Sirius told him that since neither one of them wanted to return to Grimmauld place, and Harry had never been to the sea, he had gone out and purchased this cottage in Wales. It seemed like a good solution to all their problems.

Two days after their arrival, an owl arrived informing Harry that his training facility was finished. Harry and Sirius instantly travelled to the location provided and were amazed at the sight they saw. They had landed in a building, with an indoor quidditch pitch. The ceiling was retractable, plus there were several muggle exercise machines located on the right of the pitch. Several doors on the left of the stands led to a change room, an equipment room, indoor spa, and one with some weird machines. After a tour of the building, Harry was excited to start training.

The first month flew by with Harry training four times a week at the facility. Sometimes he brought Ron, or other Weasley's to help him; by aiming bludgers, or offering advice. A few times, they had used the pitch for small matches, but kept in mind that Harry was to use the space to train. Harry discovered a stereo system the first week, and learned that he loved training while playing music. The sound would pound through the entire building while Harry ran training drills or just wanted to relax by flying aimlessly.

On his birthday Harry, had a small gathering and received numerous quidditch related gifts. He now had a new broom servicing kit, his own box of quidditch balls, new gloves and shin guards, and Sirius bought him a potion to correct his vision. Harry enjoyed the day, but was impatient to return to the pitch to keep practicing. Since the potion required the consumer to wait two days with his eyes covered to work, Harry lost some training days. He was determined to be good enough to receive an invitation to join the school, so when Sirius gave him the green flag, to remove the bandages, he spent nine days straight at the pitch.

* * *

September first rolled around, and Harry was sad to leave Sirius and Wales, but also happy to return to Hogwarts. The train ride was uneventful without Malfoy arriving for his annual visit. When Harry asked Hermione about the blond slytherin, she only said that he was quiet throughout the entire prefect meeting, and left immediately after it finished. Harry wanted to approach Malfoy, and ask about his training, but couldn't get a moment alone on the train. Ron had even followed him to the bathroom, questioning him about the nutritionist Sirius hired.

When they arrived at school, Harry was finally allowed to see Malfoy. The boy looked fit. Harry noticed that he seemed to have grown a few inches over the summer, and his muscles were more defined, but not bulky. His lithe body moved smoothly through the crowd, and his clothes showed off his trained seeker body. Malfoy wore a blank mask throughout the entire feast, and didn't seem to talk to anyone except Zabini. When the feast ended, Harry watched as the blond gracefully rose from his seat, and seemed to have glided out of the hall. Harry was fully aware that that grace carried from the ground to the sky, and was slightly nervous after seeing his rival looking so well trained. He hadn't told anyone else that Malfoy was also a candidate, and getting nervous that the blond would be chosen over him if they chose based on deportment.

That night Harry, started on a practice schedule for quidditch. He started with proposed times to book the pitch for team practices and individual. He was determined to have try-outs as soon as possible, and get his team trained. He also gave his returning teammates a copy of the diet guide he had been following all summer. Harry wrote a letter to Sirius asking for as many books on quidditch, and training he could find. Harry realised that he spent the summer mostly having fun, while Malfoy had been actually training, and if the recruiters had been watching than they wouldn't think him dedicated enough.

The next morning he set off to talk to McGonagall, and make sure all the pitch times he wanted were free. He had to reschedule one practice when it appeared the Slytherin team already took that slot, but he was fine with that. He organized that try-outs and posted a notice in the common room, all before breakfast that way any hopefuls would have plenty of time to prepare.

The third day of term, a team of three owls arrived and delivered a box full of books to Harry. Sirius had written him a note that he searched the Black library, and raided many magical bookstores, to find anything to help him. Harry read the titles, and organized them into a reading order. During his free periods and evenings, he would finish his homework as quick as possible, and then dive into the books. He developed new training tactics, and possible strategies. Harry was so caught up in his reading and training that talking to Malfoy completely fled his mind.

That first weekend, Harry held try-outs and filled his team. He handed out the practice schedule, and sent one off the EQA for their recruiters. It had been a requirement that they send the school their practice and game schedule. They were warned that they would never know when a recruiter would stop by, and they would never see them. It was a tactic to ensure that no matter what, they put the same amount of effort in every single practice and game. The week passed quickly and everyone in Gryffindor noticed their leaders devotion to quidditch and training. They fully supported the saviour and hoped all his hard work would pay off.

It was the third week of school, when Harry finally talked to Malfoy. Harry had been walking off the pitch after a long practice with his team, when the blond slytherin appeared in front of him. "Potter, I see you are training hard. Do you honestly think you will beat Slytherin in the first match?" He drawled.

"Malfoy how is it that you still think you will beat me, when time and time again, I always catch the snitch first?" Harry replied.

"Well judging from the flying you just demonstrated I would say you barely used that facility they gave you. Did you just fly around in circles and assume that would get you a spot at EQA?" Malfoy raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I probably trained just as hard as you Malfoy!" Harry spat. He was clenching his fists and trying to keep his anger at bay. He didn't believe that, but he wouldn't dare tell Malfoy the truth.

"I highly doubt that Potter. You still look like the scrawny idiotic Gryffindor from last year to me, even if you get rid of your hideous glasses." Before Harry responded, they both heard someone snort. They turned only to see a flash of white behind one the stands. Harry spared a glance at Malfoy, before turning and running after the person.

When he rounded the corner, he was surprised to see no one there. Walking further, he searched but there was no person, or anything white in sight. Dismissing the thought, he returned to the pitch to see the Slytherin team in the air. Harry quickly searched out Malfoy, and saw the blond flying the highest. Harry leaned against a pole as he watched the blond fly. He was better than he had been last June. Before he was very technical and graceful, but now he flew without fear and a more wild nature, but still maintained his grace. Harry was amazed at the sight of the blond. When Malfoy finally stopped flying to bark out orders to his team, Harry snapped out of his thoughts and left. The entire walk back to Gryffindor was spent with Harry contemplating how he could improve even more.

The weeks passed quickly, but Harry never talked to Malfoy again. The students began observing both boys behaviours and were confused. They knew Harry was training to join EQA, but he only grew more obsessed over the weeks as the first match approached. They didn't know why he felt the need to train harder for the game, when he always beat Malfoy to the snitch, but the let it go in favour of other tidbits of gossip.

Malfoy on the other hand was quieter than last year. He didn't insult muggleborns, or halfbloods. He stopped bullying the younger years, and seemed to have given up his title as Prince of Slytherin. He trained just as hard as Harry did at quidditch, and many thought it was just because he was determined to beat Harry, but others thought that it was more. He still did his prefect duties flawlessly, and performed to his usual standard in class, but he seemed to avoid anything that would land him in detention.

As the first game approached, the students got more and more excited. It was unnerving to them to have the famous rivals ignore each other. It wasn't even out right ignoring the other, they were just so absorbed in what they were doing that they failed to notice the others presence. They would pass in the halls and not spare a second glance at the other. At least with quidditch they knew the two could not stop themselves from taunting each other. With quidditch, everything would seem right again when the two started fighting.

* * *

The Saturday before Halloween arrived and the school was buzzing with excitement. The Slytherin-Gryffindor game was that morning, and many students had placed bets days in advance. Many were betting that it would be a close game with Slytherin playing dirty but Gryffindor leading in points, with Potter catching the snitch. Only the Slytherin's were placing money on Malfoy to catch the snitch. The students quickly filled the stands and waited for the teams to leave their change rooms.

In the Gryffindor change room, Harry was going over some last minute advice with his teams. He reminded his beaters to time the bludgers to distract or throw off the keeper right before the chasers threw the quaffle. He told the chasers of the new plays they developed, and reminded Ron that if he let any quaffles through, he would be subjected to every one of Fred and George's products he could get his hands on. Seeing his team ready and motivated, he led them to the tunnel. He ordered them to mount and when he heard Seamus announce Gryffindor, they flew out for a fly by. Once they landed, Harry walked towards Malfoy for the captain handshake.

"Now I want nice clean game boys." Hooch told them. Harry lifted his hand to shake Malfoy's. Malfoy took his hand and pulled him forward so they were chest to chest and hissed in his ear.

"Remember Potter, the EQA scouts are here, and I plan to show them I deserve an invitation." Harry was thrown back and looked up to see the smirking face of Draco Malfoy. Harry was unsure if that was advice, a threat, or advice and threat rolled into one.

"Mount your brooms!" Hooch yelled. Once everyone was ready, she released the snitch and bludgers. Harry watched the snitch disappear to the east side of the pitch before Hooch spoke again. "Ready? GO!" Hooch yelled as she threw the quaffle in the air.

Fifteen brooms flew into the sky at her announcement. Harry quickly flew above the game and turned his broom so he could watch the game and Malfoy at the same time. As he was watching Malfoy briefly, he spotted Sirius sitting in the stands decked out in red and gold. An amused smile slipped onto his face he as watched his godfather cheer on his team. Harry snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the crowd getting louder and looked over to where Malfoy used to be. Seeing the blond gone, he scanned the pitch to see the Slytherin chasing after a familiar golden ball. Harry swiftly manoeuvred his broom and joined the chase.

Harry felt the familiar feeling of freedom that he got when he flew wash over him, but it was quickly suppressed by the dread that Malfoy would finally beat him to the snitch. He chased after the blond, and was slowly gaining. The snitch was diving and swerving constantly to avoid capture, which worked in Harry's favour, as it allowed him to pull level with the blond's shoulder. Before he could move any closer, a bludger slammed into his side sending him spinning and right into Malfoy. Both boys were thrown off course and the snitch managed to escape and disappear.

"Honestly Potter, learn to bloody fly. You could have killed us." Malfoy snapped. Harry looked up and noticed that other boy seemed to be rubbing his ribcage, but dismissed it, as he felt the pain blossoming in his shoulder. Before he could retort, Malfoy flew off to search for the snitch.

Harry turned his attention to the game and noticed that Slytherin was winning 40-10. Cursing his team, Harry flew off to watch from a better height and hopefully spot the snitch first this time. Watching the game, he realised why his team was playing so poorly. They had developed strategies to counter the Slytherin's usual cheating ways. They worked hard thinking that the snakes would use their old dirty tricks to win, and since they were playing a clean game, his entire team was confused and wary. Signalling to Hooch for a time-out, he flew off to talk with his teammates.

Once everyone landed, the team burst into complaints about the Slytherin's.

"They aren't cheating!"

"Is this a ploy?"

"What do we do?"

"We can't change our strategy now!"

"How could you space out and almost lose the snitch!" Harry looked up at the last comment and saw a fuming Ron. Being low on time, Harry dismissed everything they said and hashed out a new plan, that would hopefully work. As the Gryffindor team retook the sky, the stands exploded into sound. Blocking out the crowd, EQA, and the game, Harry concentrated on finding the snitch.

The game had been going 45 minutes of play, when Harry got the snitch in his sights. Opening his awareness to the game, he concentrated on Seamus voice when he announced the game was 120-90 Slytherin. Harry spotted Malfoy looking the opposite direction and pushed his broom forward. As soon as he started after the snitch, the golden ball flew off in a mad escape attempt. The crowds cheer alerted Malfoy and Harry was soon joined in his chase. The two of them were diving, twisting, swerving, and making dangerous moves to catch the snitch. Harry stretched out his arm at the same time as Malfoy and his focus narrowed until it was only the golden ball.

Harry's world started to crumble when he saw pale fingers hovering over the snitch. In a last ditch effort he threw his body forward and wrapped his hand tightly around the ball. Harry was jerked to a stop, and when he looked down, he saw a pale hand covering his own over the snitch.

Harry took a moment to register what happened. Malfoy was about to win, when he pushed his body and got there first. He beat Malfoy. Finally understanding Harry looked up into the blank face of his rival. He expected a scathing remark, or a punch, but instead Malfoy only gave a nod and flew back to the ground. Harry sat in the air staring at the space Malfoy used to be, until his team tackled him in a group hug. Smiling he congratulated his team quickly before searching the ground, and watching Malfoy walk away.

Harry watched avidly as before Malfoy reached the change room doors, Maxwell stepped out and gestured for them to move to another place to talk. Following Maxwell's hand gesture, Harry saw a flash of white disappear behind the stands again. Turning his attention back to Malfoy, he watched the blond being led towards the spot the white flash once was.

Landing, Harry rushed behind the stands to find Malfoy, but was greeted with empty space. No one was there. Frowning Harry turned and returned to his own changing room, wondering if this meant that EQA no longer considered Malfoy a candidate. Would that have been Harry's fate if he lost today? Would he have been taken off the potential student list. Hoping Malfoy wouldn't set out for revenge after this, Harry stripped and stepped into the showers.

* * *

Pushing Malfoy's loss of candidacy to the back of his mind, Harry continued to train as if the blond were still fighting for a place with him. When the end of November rolled around, Harry sat in the stands watching the Slytherin-Ravenclaw game.

Harry had to admit that Malfoy was an amazing flyer. Cho could not even scratch his level of talent. Malfoy kept his complete focus on the game, and didn't taunt the other team like he did the last few years. The Slytherin team played another clean game, and Malfoy led Cho on a few false chases before he swiftly caught the snitch. Cho wasn't even able to turn her broom in his direction before he swooped down and deftly caught the golden ball. The crowd was stunned at the quick capture, before they cheered. Even if he was a Slytherin, he was still a great seeker.

November ended and Harry continued to train. The colder weather didn't deter him, and he often found Malfoy leaving or entering the pitch, but ignored it. He may not be able to go to EQA but that didn't mean he couldn't play professional quidditch after Hogwarts.

Under Harry's intense regime, the Gryffindor team were the healthiest and fittest it had ever been. Even under Woods fanatical reign, the team had not been up to this level of physical fitness. Harry was proud of himself and his team. They trained hard, and they played even harder. Since they were doing so well, Harry didn't feel any anxiety over the fact that Christmas break meant they lost three weeks of training. He waved it off and told his teammates to enjoy themselves, but to make they didn't stray too much from the diet guide.

Harry also took the break to relax. His summer training camp was still in place so he spent at least 4 days a week there working out and training. He stuck to cardio, since as a seeker he shouldn't have too much muscle. As Christmas passed, he had an enjoyable day building snowmen with Sirius and Remus. Later they invited the Weasley's over and all the boys built forts for a giant snowball fight. Ginny opted to stay indoors with Hermione, since she failed to see the point of hitting each other with snow.

After New Years, Harry was more than anxious to return to school. It was January and that meant if he was to be invited to EQA, than this would be the month he was informed. Harry was a little upset that they didn't tell him by which date he would be informed. Resigning himself to waiting the entire month, Harry loaded his trunk on the train and searched for his friends.

Arriving back at school, everything slipped into the same routine as the previous semester. Harry trained hard, and worked his team to the bone. He booked the pitch every spare moment he could, but eventually had to give up some slots, since the other house teams needed practice. After the second week of January had passed with no word from EQA, Harry started losing hope. His friends tried to remind him that there was still time, but with each passing day, his faith died a little.

When January 27th rolled around, Harry was ready to cancel his pitch time for the day, when he was summoned to the Headmasters office. Trying not to get his hopes up, he cautiously approached the stone gargoyle and spoke the password 'Gummy Worms'.

Entering the office was almost the exact same scene he saw months ago, but Malfoy was replaced with Zabini, Maxwell was sitting beside Oliver Wood, and Dumbledore still had his twinkling eyes. Sitting down he nodded to the Headmaster, Zabini, and Maxwell, but shot a confused yet happy look at Wood.

"Ah Harry, my boy, it's wonderful that you could join us. Mr Maxwell would like to speak with you and Mr. Zabini, while I take a walk." Dumbledore didn't wait for a response as he stood up and left the room.

"Harry great to see you again!" Maxwell exclaimed.

"You too, sir." Harry hesitantly responded.

"Now I think we should get straight to business. I am here to offer you and Mr. Zabini, a place at The Elite Quidditch Academy." He stated. Harry was stunned. Once the information seeped into his brain, he couldn't stop the huge smile that spread across his face.

"I got in?" He asked.

"Yes Harry, you certainly deserved it." Harry looked over at Oliver when he spoke. He hadn't seen his old quidditch captain in years, and he was sitting beside him, when he was getting the best offer he ever heard.

"Oliver what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well Harry it's simple. Every student enrolled at EQA requires a sponsor. I asked if I could be your sponsor when you join and Brent here is taking on the role of Mr. Zabini's sponsor. That is if you both accept." Oliver stated.

"Zabini? Not to be rude, but I didn't know you were up for EQA." Harry turned his attention to the dark Italian Slytherin sitting nearby.

"I was approached over the summer when I was training with Draco. Apparently one of the scouts saw me play and decided to put me on the candidate list." Harry felt a pang of guilt when he heard Malfoy's name. Malfoy worked so hard, and yet it was Harry and his best friend sitting here getting offers, and not him.

"Is Malfoy okay? I mean will he be upset that you got an offer and not him?" Harry asked. He was confused when he saw the amusement fill the other boys eyes. Looking quickly at Oliver and Maxwell for answers, he saw the slightly guilty look on both their faces. It was Maxwell that decided to answer him.

"Malfoy has already received his offer. He has been enrolled at EQA, for next year, since your game in October."

"What?" Harry just didn't understand. Malfoy was out of the running, wasn't he? Harry was sure that after the loss, he saw Maxwell approach him to tell him the bad news, but apparently that wasn't right. Malfoy had received an invitation to the school, and hadn't bragged about it.

"Well during your game, the Seeker Quidditch Master was in the stands and was adamant that he get his invitation that same day. I pulled him aside after the game to talk about his joining the school. He accepted right away, and has since been preparing to join the academy." Maxwell spoke in a soft slow voice, like he was trying to soothe a rabid animal.

"But he didn't brag about it or anything, I'm just so confused . . ." Harry dropped his head into his hands to cover his face. This wasn't how Malfoy acted. Malfoy was an arrogant git that liked to shove his accomplishments into Harry's face, to prove his superiority. He was cruel and a bully and he would not keep something like this to himself. It just wasn't the Malfoy he knew. In addition, offers were not suppose to be made until this month, but Malfoy somehow managed to get one early. Why was he so special? How did he get an early offer?

"Potter, just like you changed after the events of last year, so has Draco. Yes, he is an arrogant bastard, but he has long given up his petty rivalry with you. He is serious about the academy, and cares more about his position there, than taunting you. Now, Mr. Maxwell I accept your offer, and look forward to speaking to you at a later date, and I am honoured that you chose to sponsor me." Harry looked up to see Zabini shaking Maxwell's hand and striding out of the door.

"Oliver I think I'm going crazy." Harry softly spoke.

"No worries Harry, it will only get worse at EQA." Oliver reassured him. Harry spent an hour sitting in the Headmasters officer talking with Oliver about EQA, and what it meant to have Oliver as his sponsor. He asked about the Seeker Quidditch Master, but Oliver refused to say anything about them. At one point Oliver checked the time and declared it was time for Harry to go to bed, but he promise to return at a later date to answer more questions.

When Harry returned to the dorm, his house was waiting for him. They had all assumed that the summons was the EQA scouts talking to him about the school. When he entered, they went silent and waited for him to tell them the news. Seeing Ron and Hermione nearby, Harry addressed the entire room.

"I got in." Those three simple words sent the entire common room into a loud cheer. They couldn't have been happier for their Leader. They had watched him train and exhaust himself for months, trying to get in, and he succeeded. They were a tad upset he wouldn't return the next year, but were glad he was doing something he loved. Cancelling practice and deciding that sleep could wait, the entire house started a celebratory party. Butterbeer appeared with food, and music started playing, before Harry even registered all the congratulations coming his way.

* * *

Done! Now let's here what you think, any suggestions or opinions, will not be shot down.

_A: Beef Jerky_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_"Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat."_

_-Alex Levin_

The next morning saw a very tired Gryffindor table. They had celebrated until the early hours of the morning, and only gotten three hours sleep before they woke for class. Once most of the students were in the hall, Dumbledore stood up and signalled for quiet. When the students were ready, he smiled to every table and began speaking.

"As most of you know, Harry Potter spent most of the year training to get a place at The Elite Quidditch Academy. It is my honour and pride to announce that not only was Harry accepted but so were Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini who had also been down as candidates!" At the end of his announcement the Headmaster reclaimed his seat and sat back to watch the various reactions.

Most of the students wanted to cheer and be happy for Harry, but they were confused and shocked that two Slytherin's were also offered spots. The Slytherin table were immensely proud that two of their members were chosen, and they hid their shock, since they also had not known they were up for consideration. Finally, a lone clap started at the Ravenclaw table, and everyone turned to see Luna Lovegood standing and clapping for the three-quidditch players.

Seeing her applaud the three students, the rest of the Ravenclaw house started clapping as well. Hufflepuff soon followed them, and the Slytherin's applauded softly. The Gryffindor house were still exhausted from the night before, so the either clapped softly or waved in a silent cheer. When they settled down, Dumbledore smiled and reminded them that class started soon.

The Gryffindor's were upset that Malfoy and Zabini seemed to have stolen Harry's thunder and paid someone off to get in, and the Slytherin's were immensely smug that two snakes were chosen. Harry ignored all this and kept to his strict training regime. According to Oliver, on August 1st, he would start at EQA, but he knew his position could be taken away if he got lazy now.

Harry spent a lot of time on or near the pitch. He finally started to take notice of Malfoy and realized that the boy trained just as hard as he did. Zabini was often with him, and the both them seemed to be pushing themselves to the limit every time. Slytherin was in the lead for the Quidditch Cup, since they beat Ravenclaw, but Harry tied the score after they beat Hufflepuff. Slytherin also destroyed Hufflepuff taking the lead, but once Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw they were tied again. It came down to the last game, and like before, Harry was nervous about facing Malfoy.

Harry was shocked and pleased at the end of the game, when he once again held the snitch. There were a few times when he was positive that Malfoy would catch it first, but in the end, it was clutched in his hand. Taking initiative, Harry landed and walked towards the blond.

"Hey Malfoy!" When the blond turned around Harry presented his hand. "Good game."

Malfoy briefly glanced over his shoulder to the back of the stands before focussing back on Harry. "You too, Potter," and shook his hand. Malfoy dropped his hand and quickly left for the change rooms. Harry watched him go and didn't miss the hand gesture he made to the spot behind the stands. It looked like he was telling someone to wait five minutes. Shrugging it off, Harry returned to his change room and got ready for the party that was starting in the tower. In two months, Harry was scheduled to start at the most prestigious quidditch school ever founded, and he couldn't be any more excited.

August 1st arrived and Harry could barely contain his excitement. The night before he had a small birthday gathering, and went to bed early. Now he was waiting in the kitchen of the Wales cottage, for his escort to arrive. Oliver stopped by two weeks prior to inform him that he would receive an escort that would take him to the academy. Sirius was sitting with Harry, nursing a cup of coffee, as the both waited for someone arrive.

Finally, a knock on the front door startled both men, and they bolted out of their seats to answer it. On the doorstep was a short girl with a short edgy haircut. Her hair was white -like paper white- with a single chunk dyed black her left side. She had a golden brown tan, and dark brown eyes. She wore tight black riding pants, a dark short sleeved green shirt, a black belt with a 'Star Wars' belt buckle and a sleeveless white quidditch robe over top the entire thing. Smiling at them both, she spoke.

"Hi! I'm O'Reilly and I am here to pick up Harry." She continued to smile at the pair, as she waited for a response.

"Um. . ." Harry managed to say.

"Hello! I'm Sirius and Harry is my godson. It's nice to meet you O'Reilly, are you one of the students at EQA?" Sirius asked as he stepped forward to shake the girl's hand.

"Nice to meet you Sirius, no I'm not a student I'm an instructor! My sponsor has been at the academy for a week now, so I offered to pick up Harry for Ollie, when he mentioned he had other business to attend to today." She explained to the two men.

"Instructor but you can't be a day over seventeen." Sirius had seemed to take over for Harry, since the dark-haired youth still seemed unable to speak.

"Oh that's quite the compliment," Harry watched as a light blush appeared on O'Reilly's cheeks. "I'm nineteen actually. Anyways ready to go Harry? We have a long flight ahead of us." She announced.

Still startled by the appearance and personality of the girl, Harry only nodded and turned to gather his trunk and broom.

"Well prongslet, I'm going to miss you. You better write and more than you did at Hogwarts too!" Sirius told him. Harry only smiled at his godfather and gave the older man a bear hug.

"I promise Padfoot." Turning towards his escort, he nodded. "Okay I'm ready to go."

"Good! Shrink your trunk, and stuff it in a pocket. We're going to fly east first and than northish. Well depends where we end up really, but I know we will stumble upon that school at some point! Right mount your broom, and up, up, and away!" Harry could only give the girl a weird look as she took off. Sending one last smile to his godfather, Harry turned and took off after the strange girl leading him to school.

Harry couldn't properly describe the girl he was following. She was energetic, but not hyperactive; she liked to sing and talk to herself, but did not give off crazy vibes. She acted carefree as she led them, but still managed to look like she knew exactly where she was going when she closed her eyes and let her broom drift side to side. He had lost interest in the scenery they were flying over and decided to study the design on the back of her quidditch robe. It was a large green and black dragon, which appeared to be in mid-flight. He didn't know which type it was; just that it looked majestic and fierce. The detail in the design was amazing, and it appeared alive as her cloak whipped around in the wind.

After two hours of flying, Harry started getting uncomfortable. A broom wasn't exactly the softest thing to spend hours sitting on and he hoped they would arrive soon, and it was nearing lunch. As if sensing his desire, O'Reilly started diving towards a courtyard, which to Harry seemed to suddenly appear. Following her, he landed but stumbled slightly since he had been flying for hours. O'Reilly motioned for him to follow her, and he was led into what looked like the dorms.

"Right, so this is the dorms. All EQA students reside here it is a co-ed building. Each room has private bathroom, so don't worry about walking in on a girl showering. First floor is reserved for all seekers, second floor is Keepers, third and fourth are for Chasers and the fifth floor are the Beaters. You will be in room two, and you will be served lunch in there while you unpack. At 1 o'clock, there will be a seeker meeting on pitch five. There will be map in your room to help you get around, but if you have any more questions, the lovely boy in room 1 should be able to answer them. Right, I'm off to tell admin that you arrived safely." O'Reilly gave him a big smile before swiftly leaving him in the middle of the hallway.

Approaching the door labelled '2' Harry tested the door handle to discover it unlocked. Entering he found a fair sized bedroom. There was a double sized four-poster bed, a desk, wardrobe, and bookcase. There was a door on the right side of the room that he assumed led to the bathroom, and a white sheepskin carpet in the middle of the floor. The walls were a grey brick, and the window looked out into the courtyard. The sheets were white with a charcoal grey comforter and pillowcases. Overall, it wasn't half-bad.

Harry resized his trunk and started putting his clothes away. At 12, a small pop made him turn around to spot a tray full of food waiting on his desk. He ate the grilled chicken and steamed vegetables quickly, but left the roasted potatoes. Once he was finished, he went about decorating his room. Quarter to one he stopped and picked up his map. Locating pitch five, he shoved the map into his pocket and left the room. O'Reilly never mentioned needing anything so he left his broom in the room. He figured that if he needed it, he could summon it later.

Arriving at the pitch, he found five other people already waiting there. Malfoy - part of the five- was standing off to the side, away from the others, and gave nothing away with his neutral mask. Malfoy barely spared him a glance when he arrived, so Harry approached the other four. Just as he reached them, a strong voice rang across the pitch.

"Everyone line up and be quiet." Everyone instantly obeyed and formed a single line. Harry was standing next to Malfoy and girl with black hair who was around the same height as him. Looking forward he saw six people approaching from the other side of the pitch. Five of them were wearing that dark charcoal grey colour, but one in the middle was wearing a white sleeveless quidditch robe. Harry knew that was O'Reilly, but was curious of the other people. He wanted to know why she was wearing a different coloured quidditch robe, but figured they would explain everything.

When the group reached them, Harry noticed that O'Reilly was the only female. The six of them seemed to be studying the student seekers before O'Reilly had a huge smile on her face and stepped forward.

"Welcome everyone to The Elite Quidditch Academy! We will go over rules and whatnot soon but first I want everyone to introduce themselves, starting with the lovely gentleman on the end." O'Reilly pointed towards Malfoy. "First and last name, sponsor, and which school you came from." She stated.

"Draco Malfoy, my sponsor is Heather O'Reilly, and I went to Hogwarts in Scotland." Malfoy drawled. Harry stared at him but then noticed everyone looking at him expectantly.

"Harry Potter, sponsor is Oliver Wood, and I also went to Hogwarts." Harry was glad when no one gawked at him, or searched for his scar. Instead, they all turned their focus to the girl beside him.

"Susan Blackcastle, Jerry Teatle, Salem in the United States." Harry blinked at her quick answers, and the fact she was American. He hadn't realized this was an international school, but he probably should have researched it more. Moving on the other three were introduced

"William McVean, Oscar Hubble, Sydney School of Magic in Australia."

"Sven Schmidt, Benjamin Hubble, Stärke in Germany."

"Patty Canon, Frank Conroy, and I'm from Kennis in South Africa."

"Wonderful! Okay now for our turn." O'Reilly motioned for a man at the end of the line to start.

"Oscar Hubble, Seeker Instructor." They rest just continued after him.

"Ben Hubble, Seeker instructor."

"Jesse Laughton, Seeker Instructor." They skipped over O'Reilly.

"James Thana, Seeker Instructor."

"Chris Lamarre, Seeker Instructor."

"And I am Heather O'Reilly, the Seeker Quidditch Master!" O'Reilly introduced while giving a deep bow to the students. Harry just stared at her as he processed what she said. His escort had turned out to be the Seeker Quidditch Master, and Malfoy's sponsor. He briefly considered if the entire experience was a dream since the short energetic girl, he previously met was apparently one of the best seekers in the world.

"Let's jump into this. I am the Seeker Quidditch Master, which means I decide everything you do. Whether I want you to spend the day swimming laps, or counting beans, you will not question my choices." Harry noticed as the smile dropped from her face to be replaced with the hard mask of a leader. "Every morning before breakfast you will meet on this pitch for PT. After you will shower and depending on the day change into the appropriate clothes. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you will all have physical fitness in the morning after breakfast, after lunch you will have quidditch specific classes. Tuesday and Thursday morning after breakfast, you have healing and quidditch strategy class. Afternoon you will change into your quidditch robes for various quidditch classes based on where I assign you. Most Saturdays will have a quidditch game, and Sunday the entire school sits and breaks down the match, where the players went wrong, how to improve, and where they did a good job. Only healing will you six have together. Other classes you will be split into threes, twos or individually. Everyone understand?" O'Reilly stared at everyone before she continued.

"Next everyone has a sponsor to help them on their free time. Some sponsors are here for different positions, it doesn't matter, and your sponsor is there to help you. Before you even think of approaching me, talk to your sponsor or one of the instructors. Remember though we all have lives and responsibilities outside of this school. The only student that is allowed to approach me directly is Malfoy." Harry glanced at Malfoy quickly, only to see a blank face,

"There will be no smoking, drinking, or drugs in this school. This is a clean school; we pride ourselves in turning out the best. Those substances only hinder your performance. Next, there is no rule against having sexual relations with other students. I will warn you though, that if you are caught, whatever consequences you face afterwards is completely your fault." Pausing in her speech again, she allowed anyone to ask a question. Seeing the girl beside him raise her hand, Harry waited for O'Reilly to acknowledge her. "Yes Miss. . ."

"Blackcastle, Quidditch Master. I was wondering why we are taking healing classes." She spoke in that quick sharp tone she used before.

"I don't know about you but I get injured when I play. We teach you to heal yourself here. You can't always rely on medi-witches and wizards to be around. Any other questions?" When no one raised his or her hand, she went on.

"Right now, boxes are being placed in front of your doors. In them, you will find three pairs of grey sweatpants, three grey t-shirts, one grey hoodie, four pairs of light grey quidditch robes, and two grey and blank school uniforms. The instructors will explain when to wear which uniform, and other important facts. The second last thing I will tell you is that whatever broom you brought with you is now useless. You will fly the broom we issue you." O'Reilly waved her wand and six brooms flew out and hovered in front of each student.

"This is the Firebolt 1.5 design, and the broom you will be using for the year. They all have your names engraved on the handle and a colour strip at the base. They colour is also significant. That will be your identification colour." Waving her wand a second time, a coloured scarf appeared around everyone's wrist. "These scarves are a test. They are spelled to never fall off, and you can't remove it. Only another seeker or instructor can remove the scarf. It's a game really. The object is throughout the year, to steal another seekers scarf. For example" O'Reilly walked forward and removed the black scarf from Malfoy's wrist. "I have Malfoy's scarf so he now owes me a favour. All favours will be quidditch related and nothing sexual or embarrassing. I will just add this to the list of other favours you owe me since we started training Malfoy." O'Reilly replaced his scarf and walked back to her original position.

"Once you take another seekers scarf, report it to an instructor, and then return it. Last thing, I have been working with Malfoy since last October, he is the seeker to beat. Your goal for the year is to try and be better than Malfoy." Harry looked over expecting a smug smirk on the blonds' face, but it remained stoic. O'Reilly started to speak again when she was interrupted.

"How do ve know he ist the seeker to beat? Ve could be better than you, und you vouldn't know it." Harry saw the brief flash of anger on Malfoy's face before it went blank again. Directing his focus down the line, Harry saw that it was the German boy speaking.

"Well, that is a valid question, and I will demonstrate. Malfoy other side of the pitch, Instructors get the snitches ready, and you five mount your brooms." O'Reilly ordered. Everyone did as she said and waited. Once Malfoy was in place and the instructors back with four crates, she spoke again.

"We will release a hundred snitches in the air. You five will attempt to catch as many as you can. You are a team. Your goal is to catch more than Malfoy. When you catch one it will turn your colour, and all you have to do is drop it and it will fall to the pitch floor. Whichever team has caught the most snitches in the end wins. Team Malfoy against Team Five." Seeing everyone understood, she signalled for the snitches to be set free.

Harry watched fascinated as the sky was filled with a hundred golden snitches. Looking at Malfoy, he saw the same blank mask on his face as he casually leaned on his broom. Harry saw the black scarf on his wrist and finally looked at his own. His was white. Harry was startled out of his thoughts when O'Reilly yelled 'Start'. Harry followed the other four in the air as they flew out to start catching as many snitches as they could.

Harry caught his second snitch when he looked down to see Malfoy still standing on the ground. Looking back at O'Reilly, she seemed fine with the whole situation, until she caught Harry looking back and forth between her and Malfoy. She sent him a smirk and signalled for Malfoy to begin. Harry was impressed when Malfoy quickly rose and started catching snitches with ease. Watching the blonds' skill, Harry came to one conclusion. 'Malfoy is a lot better than I remember'. He was still watching Malfoy sweep across the pitch when another seeker crashed into him and yelled at him to start catching. Harry nodded and set out to beat Malfoy.

When the last snitch dropped from Malfoy's hand, the seekers landed to see the smug look on O'Reilly's face. "Team Five caught 42 snitches and Team Malfoy caught 58. I believe I proved my point."

"Mate, good onya!" the Australian seeker stepped forward and clapped Malfoy on the back. Malfoy nodded his head in return, and focused back on O'Reilly.

When no one spoke, O'Reilly smiled. "I told you to never question my choices. Good now you are dismissed and tomorrow we start classes. Schedules on your desks. Malfoy come with me."

As the other seekers left, Harry watched as Malfoy walked towards their Quidditch Master. They started walking side by side off the other side of the pitch, talking, and it made Harry think. He saw two flashes of white at Hogwarts, and was now convinced it had been O'Reilly that he had chased. There was more going on here than he knew, and he was missing some information. When they disappeared, Harry turned to walk back to the dorms and already composing a letter to Ron and Hermione in his head.

The night around dinnertime, one of the Hubble brothers came by and collected the seekers. Harry noticed that Malfoy was missing, but it apparently didn't bother Hubble when he pointed it out. The group were led to the schools own Great Hall. Unlike Hogwarts, it was set up more like a muggle cafeteria, with small square tables for four people, or round tables to seat eight. There were two lines to collect food, and then a drink station. Once everyone was through, Hubble directed them to one of the round tables to give out more instructions and rules.

As everyone settled in to wait for Hubble, Harry found himself seated next to the Australian seeker. Observing the boy, he found him to be a bit big by seeker standards, but he had a kind face and tanned features. He had dirty blond hair and warm blue eyes. Noticing himself being watched the other boy turned towards Harry.

"G'day, I'm Will." He held out his hand to Harry with a big smile. Smiling in return, Harry took his hand.

"Harry and it's nice to meet you."

"Holy Dooley! Can't believe I got here." Harry blinked at his different accent, but decided to smile and keep talking.

"I can't believe I got here either. I think I'm still in a state of shock." Harry replied simply.

"Were you as gobsmacked at Malfoy?"

"Um . . . more so than everyone else really. . ." Harry lowered his head as he felt heat rise in his cheeks. He was amazed at Malfoy's skill, but it was also mixed with confusion and a little shame. Malfoy could not have gotten that good in two months, which means either Harry had the best luck in the world, or Malfoy purposely lost their last match. Harry was leaning towards the latter.

"Did you not attend the same school? You should have been aware of his talent." Blackcastle spoke up. Harry was startled when she spoke, since he completely forgot the other seekers were there.

"Truthfully, for the last six years I had always beaten him at quidditch. Seeing him today I don't think I would stand a chance." Harry replied.

"I'm glad to see you taking this revelation so well Potter." Harry froze. He knew that aristocratic drawl anywhere. In fact, Harry could probably leave for ten years, return, and still be able to identify the speaker without hesitation. Turning around, Harry saw Malfoy and O'Reilly standing behind him. Harry could only stare at the blond, as his brain refused to assemble an appropriate response.

Malfoy stepped forward and between Harry and Will. Harry was further stunned when Malfoy placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned towards the table. Malfoy extend his free hand towards Harry tray, and Harry followed its movement. Harry blocked out everything else as those familiar pale fingers moved forward and quickly snatched Harry's dinner roll. He watched as the pale hand that was curled around the bread retreated and was brought up to Malfoy's pale pink lips. He watched as those lips moved, forming words, but his ears did not hear them. Finally, when Malfoy took a bite of the bread did Harry snap out of his daze. Realizing Malfoy was speaking he opened his awareness and caught the tail end.

". . . oa."

"What?" Harry asked.

"I said, Potter that the favour you owe me is to get two cups of hot cocoa." Malfoy repeated. Harry saw that familiar smirk, and got angry.

"Malfoy, you can't order me around. I am not some slave for you to command!" He responded heatedly.

"No, but as per the rules of the game, you owe me one favour." Harry didn't understand until Malfoy raised a familiar white scarf. Looking down Harry paled when his wrist was empty. Thinking quickly, Harry concluded Malfoy managed to snag it while he had been distracted with the bread incident. Cursing softly under his breath, he stood before a thought struck him.

"Malfoy, I acknowledge I owe you a favour, but the favours are supposed to be quidditch related." Hearing a snicker, Harry glanced over to see O'Reilly watching the conversation, with an amused smile on her face.

"Well Potter, you aren't as daft as I thought. Well that is true, but since I am requesting two cups of cocoa, one for myself and the other for the Seeker _Quidditch_ Master, I believe that qualifies as _quidditch_ related." Malfoy's smirk was still in place, as his eyes dared Harry to refuse. Conceding to the blond, Harry gave a small sigh. After all, he could have asked for worse, like demanding Harry polish all his quidditch gear.

"Fine, where do I get the cocoa." Harry asked.

"Ask the witch at the drink station. She normally has it ready by this time." Harry nodded and left to retrieve the cocoa. He didn't want to take orders from the blond, but he had lost his scarf. Harry flushed with embarrassment when he realized, he was probably the first student to lose their scarf, and it was taken in front of his Quidditch Master and other seekers.

Harry hesitantly told the witch at the drink bar, that he was asked by Malfoy to get two cups of Hot Cocoa. The witch gave him a knowing look after she glanced at his wrist, and swiftly left to retrieve the cups. Returning she handed him two large emerald green mugs, almost over flowing with the hot liquid treat. Cautiously carrying the cups back to the table, he noticed Hubble had returned, and that the only empty seat was the one he left. He placed both mugs down and moved them toward Malfoy before reclaiming his seat, and avoiding the blond.

"Oh thanks!" He heard O'Reilly say. Harry looked up just in time to see her take a large drink from the cup and give a whimper when she burned her tongue. Harry gave her a baffled look when Malfoy spoke.

"Every time . . ." Harry turned fast enough to see the small smile on the blonds face before it disappeared.

"Shush you! Now Oscar was about to have a meeting. Please start Oscar." O'Reilly lightly slapped Malfoy's shoulder, before directing the group's attention to the seeker instructor.

"Thanks O'Reilly. Although if you're here you could probably explain better than I could." Hubble told her.

"Nope, I just came to drop off the little bear; I got a message from Kody about Barky getting hurt and something about the budget. I need to rush off, but I couldn't miss tradition." O'Reilly took another two large drinks from her cup and whimpered each time, before she stood. "Right enjoy your meeting!" She winked at Hubble and squeezed Malfoy's shoulder, before taking off.

"I think she ist mental." The German seeker spoke. Harry, who was still staring at Malfoy from the corner of his eye, saw the flash of anger in the other boys face. Deciding to think on it later, he focussed on the others.

"Now don't be a whacker. I think she's ace!" Will spoke up.

"Yes whatever McVean said, which I assume was in defence of our Q.M, you should give her the upmost respect Schmidt, and keep your opinions to yourself." Malfoy snarled at the German boy.

"Now now, calm down boys." Hubble spoke. "We have a lot to discuss and arguing wont further our purpose tonight." Schmidt and Malfoy continued to glare at each other for the entire meeting, while Harry tried to focus on Hubble.

Hubble told them that the quidditch matches wouldn't start until Halloween, to give the second year's time to train with their teams. On Halloween, the school would be holding a mini tournament to kick off the season. Apparently, the four Quidditch Master would bring in a professional team to play with, and they played against each other. Hubble hinted that O'Reilly was rumoured to be the favourite, but they were to focus on their studies. They were given information on which uniform to wear when and which classes, which pitches they were allowed to practice on, and wrapped up the meeting by telling them they were expected on pitch 5, at 5:30 am.

Harry noticed that halfway through Hubble's explanations, Malfoy had reached over and grabbed O'Reilly's half-full mug. Malfoy had cast a charm to warm the drink, before he finished it off. After the meeting, he grabbed both empty mugs, and returned them to the drink bar. Malfoy had not spoken a word to anyone, after his comment to Schmidt, and he had left immediately after.

Harry had started to walk back to the dorm, when an arm draped across his shoulder. He tensed before looking up -he noticed that the arm was attached to Will. Harry had already noticed he was the shortest of all the seekers. Even if at first Blackcastle appeared to be the same height, he learned she was in fact an inch or two taller. Harry already resigned himself to being shorter than everyone else, and smiled up at the taller seeker.

"Hey Will, what do you think about the Halloween tournament?" he asked while subtly moving out of his arm.

"I think she'll be a beaut! But I'm sure you're a larrkin, and we need to do something about the boy." Harry hoped that by the end of the year, he would understand Will's crazy slang, but for now, he needed clarification.

"Huh?"

"Sorry, forgot you ain't from down under. Larrkin is a prankster and the boy is that dipstick Schmidt."

"So you want us to prank Schmidt?" Harry responded slowly.

"Yup, I'm bored shitless, and I figure Schmidt deserves it. I already have a plan." Harry listened as the Australian detailed his plan quietly, on the walk back to the dorm. They slipped into Harry's room to prepare, and kept watch to see which room belonged to Schmidt. Once they assembled their supplies, and located the Germans room. They sat down to talk until they were certain their target was asleep.

Harry spent the night slowly getting used to Will's speech, but only after the Australian started making an effort to speak in more understandable terms. Around midnight, they crept out of Harry's room and prepared their prank. After ten minutes of hard work, they bid each other good night and fell asleep.

* * *

Apparently people enjoyed this so Yay!

Thank you for the reviews

Still un-beta'd so ignore any mistakes, I did try though.

Grab some hot cocoa and enjoy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Don't give a woman advice. One should never give a woman anything she can't wear in the evening. _

_ Oscar Wilde_

The next morning saw a sleepy Aussie in front of his door. Quietly mumbling greeting to the other, the two boys set off for pitch 5. Harry had opted for wearing grey sweatpants, the grey t-shirt, and the issued blank runners. Will wore black EQA shorts, the grey shirt, and black runners. The colour of the lettering on each piece of clothing was different depending on your scarf colour. Harry had all white lettering and Will had red.

Arriving at the pitch, they discovered O'Reilly, Malfoy, Blackcastle and Canon waiting. O'Reilly and Malfoy seemed to be in deep conversation. Well O'Reilly seemed like she in was a deep conversation, she was gesturing wildly with arms and she looked to be in the middle of an exciting story. Malfoy's back was to them, so Harry couldn't see his face, but he was sure the blond wasn't saying a word. The two females were talking, but theirs seemed more like a share conversation. The girls were also wearing sweatpants and t-shirts. Canon had yellow lettering while Blackcastle had blue. Malfoy seemed to mirror O'Reilly, as they were both wearing black shorts and a grey hoodie. O'Reilly had black letters, which confused Harry a little, since that was Malfoy's colour.

Will and Harry just stood near each other as they waited. Both were too tired to talk, and knew if they sat down they would probably fall asleep. Harry was staring into space when O'Reilly's voice brought him back.

"Holy dancing dragons, that's hilarious." Following the direction of her gaze, Harry turned to see a giant pink bird. Harry joined in the laughter of the others at the sight of a very angry seeker standing in the middle of the pitch covered in pink feathers.

Once everyone seemed to settle down enough, O'Reilly spoke. "Well Schmidt, I guess for today we can change your colour to pink, but tomorrow you're back to green. Now let's stretch were going for a run."

O'Reilly made sure their muscles were stretched before she had them begin laps. She led the line in a slow jog to start and then sped up. She had them do five laps, before she slowed down again. They followed her to the centre of the pitch, where the jogged in place for a few minutes. She had them slow down, and when they stopped, she made them "Shake it out" before instructing them to do jumping jacks. The torturous PT went on for an hour and a half before she had them cool down, and shipped off to shower.

They were allowed half an hour to shower and change for their first class, before breakfast started. Harry stayed close to Will the entire morning, and chose to sit next to him at a square table for breakfast. Even though he only met the Aussie the day before, Harry already, saw him as a good friend. Their talk the night before revealed countless stories of their separate pranking adventures, and allowed them to make a list of possible things to do to Schmidt, and everyone else. Neither acknowledged the unspoken agreement to leave Malfoy alone, but it hardly seemed important.

Will was brainstorming possible ideas to use against the keepers, when Harry saw Malfoy enter. He was walking with Zabini, and was wearing another set of PT gear. Zabini was wearing quidditch robes, so Harry assumed he had pitch practice first thing. Both boys grabbed a tray and food before sitting at a deserted round table. They ate and only exchanged a few comments before Malfoy stood and left the cafeteria. Zabini finished a few minutes after, and left when another group of students in quidditch robes approached him.

Harry felt Will nudge his shoulder, and he followed the boy to the trash, and out. They had discovered they shared the same class 'Reflex Training', and they made their way to pitch twelve. They were wearing quidditch robes, and had their brooms ready for whatever was waiting for them. Arriving at the pitch, they spotted Ben Hubble there with a tennis racket and a box of tennis balls.

"You can put your brooms to the side, you won't need them today." Following his directions the deposited their brooms and returned to the centre of the pitch.

"Okay, we are here to up your reflex time. I will have you both stand in the square behind you. I will hit these tennis balls at you. Slow a first, then I will speed up. Your goal is to avoid being hit, while avoiding each other. If you touch, or are hit, than a colour spot will form. The more colour you have on you, at the end, the more laps I will make you run." Nodding that the understood, the two boys entered the square.

They spent the two-hour long class jumping, diving, dodging, and falling. After the first ten minutes, they picked up that Hubble was hitting the balls in the same pattern, and dodged them easier. Seeing that they caught on -Hubble sped up and was sending the balls at them faster. He maintained the same pattern, but every so often increased the speed. At the forty-minute mark, Hubble switched it up and summoned a machine that shot the balls instead. Eighty minutes in, he had the machine switch to randomly shooting at them. In the end, both boys were tired, bruised, and looking like mutli-coloured heaps on the ground. Hubble ordered them to run ten laps, before moving onto their next class.

After 'Reflexes' Will and Harry slowly walked over to the teaching building for 'Physiotherapy'. The class was designed for them to have physiotherapy and learn to administer it. Today they were just going in for massages to help their muscles. According to one of the physiotherapists, O'Reilly had kept a very detailed report on all the seekers. She catalogued their personal and school training, and assessed their level of fitness. Based off the schedule she made for them, she stressed to the physiotherapist, that both boys would need something for their sore and aching bodies.

Lunch arrived and both boys sat with the other seekers, minus Malfoy. Schmidt was still covered in pink feathers, and refusing to talk to anyone, but the girls were open to discuss their morning classes. Blackcastle was paired with Malfoy, and explained how they had spent the morning swimming and doing water aerobics with Lamarre. Canon and Schmidt were in the classroom all morning in 'Quidditch History' and 'Quidditch Strategies' with Oscar Hubble, and Thana.

Blackcastle told everyone that Malfoy was quiet, and seemed entirely focussed on their exercises. She had tried to engage him in conversation on their break-time, but he only stared at her until she was uncomfortable enough to leave. After she just avoided talking to him and left as quick as possible. When they asked if she knew why he wasn't at lunch, she admitted to passing O'Reilly on her way out of building with the pools. Schmidt expressed his opinion, that they were having an affair, and Canon sighed and commented that the entire thing was romantic. Harry found her to be excessively girly for his tastes.

Seeing the depressed look on Schmidt's face all lunch, Harry decided to talk to him later. Sure, he had been rude, and said some unpleasant things about O'Reilly, but he had to endure the ridicule of the other students for the pink feathers. Harry figured he probably learned his lesson by now. Before he could speak to the German boy, Schmidt stood up and left the table. Not knowing what to do, Harry grabbed Will's arm and dragged him out so they could shower and change before 'Nutrition and Health' class. After all, he could always find Schmidt after class to speak with him.

When Dinner rolled around, Harry was ready to sleep. He didn't have any energy left after the first day of classes, and since the academy didn't believe in homework, he had the evening free. Will was in no better shape than Harry was, since they shared all their classes that day. Harry was looking forward to Healing, because then it wouldn't be another morning of nothing but fitness.

Harry was eating at a sedate pace when the seat next to him was occupied. He was slightly shocked to see the now featherless Schmidt beside him.

"Hey Schmidt, how was your afternoon?" he asked politely.

"Sven," was the response.

"Eh?"

"You can call me Sven." The other boy told him.

"Well Sven, it's nice to meet you I'm Harry." Harry found some strength to raise his hand for the boy to shake. After Sven shook his hand, he went to include Will, when he noticed the Aussie asleep on the table. "Well that's Will; he's much more interesting when awake."

Sven chuckled a little. "Harry, how vos your day?"

"Exhausting. Very, very exhausting. Yours?"

"it vos long. I love quidditch, but I don't think I hast never learned so much history about it in a day." Harry gave the boy a small smile. They compared classes for a few minutes, before they were interrupted.

"Potter," that familiar drawl spoke from behind him. At Hogwarts, just hearing it sent him temper spiking, but here it made something flutter in his stomach. Harry tried to identify the feeling, but couldn't decide it if was the thrill of competition or dread.

"Malfoy."

"I came to return your scarf." Harry turned towards the blond, and saw him holding the stolen material. Harry gave a nod and went to reach for it before Malfoy pulled it back. "Tsk tsk Potter, I took it off, so let me put it back on." Harry was too tired to argue, so he glared as a response.

Malfoy seemed to take the silence as acceptance when he stepped forward. He calmly took Harry's arm in one hand while the other slowly wrapped the scarf around his wrist. Harry felt his skin burn where Malfoy touched him, but not in a bad way. When the blond was finished he dropped his arm and stepped back, accidently bumping into Sven. Malfoy turned muttered an insincere apology, before stepping away from the duo. Seeing him just standing there, Harry spoke up.

"Malfoy was there anything else you needed?"

"Actually yes, two cups of hot cocoa." He drawled.

"Well why are you telling me? I already did your favour, and I have my scarf." Harry pointed out. The smug smirk on Malfoy's face didn't disappear at all, and it worried Harry.

"Why Potter, who said I was telling you?" Malfoy's smirk only grew when he raised his hand to show them a green scarf. Harry and Sven both looked down to see the empty wrist of the German seeker.

"Well Schmidt, two hot cocoa's and your favour is done." Malfoy didn't wait for a response before he turned and left the two boys. He sat at a table that held O'Reilly and Zabini who seemed to be having a great time laughing with each other and gesturing about.

"How does he do that?" Harry whispered.

"No clue. I should go." Sven didn't wait for a response before he got up and left.

Harry watched as Sven gathered two cups of cocoa and dropped them off. When the other boy left, Harry turned towards Will and starting poking him. "Will . . ." poke "Will time to wake up." Poke, poke.

"McVean! The dingoes are eating your broom!" Will suddenly jerked out of his nap and started frantically looking around.

"Wah..." he managed to groan. Harry turned to see who woke his friend, and saw O'Reilly. He kept staring as the QM took the seat beside him and settled in as if it were an everyday thing.

"Good to see you awake McVean, we need to talk." She started. Harry noted the serious expression on her face, and recalled the only time he had seen that particular expression was when she took offense the Sven insulting Malfoy, and challenged everyone. Harry was scared for his friend.

"G'day Highness QM." Will managed to say after shaking his head and focussing on O'Reilly.

"Tomorrow after your Healing classes, report to me straightaway. I'll be at Pool 4."

"Sure. . ." O'Reilly nodded before addressing Harry.

"Potter, you got a letter." She tossed the letter at him before standing. "See ya later Skippy, Potter." Harry watched as she skipped back to her table. As soon as she sat down she latched onto her cup. In Harry's opinion she was definately one weird girl.

"Who sent the letter?" Will asked.

"Hmm. . . oh well I think it's from Ron and Hermione." Harry replied.

"The two you were telling me about last night?"

"Yeah." Harry responded while he broke the letters seal and began.

_Dear Harry,_

_How was your first day? I know you got there yesterday, but you didn't start classes until today. You will have to tell me all about it. What do you learn? How are the classes run, do you have textbooks, do you need me to make a homework schedule for you this year? I know you did extremely well last year balancing quidditch and homework, but now everything is different._

**Oi mate! Just ignore her. I can't believe Malfoy managed to beat five seekers. He must have cheated or something, I mean you used to beat him all the time. That Quidditch Master Riley or whatever must have set it up.**

_Just ignore Ron. He clearly does not understand that Malfoy can win without cheating. Plus I don't think O'Reilly would risk her position, that she probably spent years working towards, just so one person can win at a silly game. Ron still rants on and on about Malfoy. Honestly when will he ever grow up?_

**Mione just doesn't understand the game. Malfoy must have cheated some way. It's not natural for one person to beat five seekers. **_Ronald!_** Anyways mate, we just wanted to write to you, and make sure you tell us all about your first day of training.**

_Love, Hermione_** and Ron!**

"Did they say anything interesting?" Will asked.

"Hermione wants to know if I need a homework schedule and Ron is adamant that Malfoy somehow cheated at the snitch game last night. Another than that they want to know how the first day was."

"Tell them it was full or medieval torturers and sadists." Harry laughed at his friend as they gathered their trays to leave. Harry could write Ron and Hermione tomorrow, when his body wasn't screaming in pain.

* * *

Day 1

Next Chapter: The first week of O'Reilly torture

Hope you liked it, any comments or suggestions, just send them along!


	4. Chapter 4

**The Scandal**

_"No quote, but beware this is un-beta'd"_**  
**

Harry groaned into his pillow when he heard the now familiar sound of O'Reilly's whistle, blasting through the early morning air. He checked the time and groaned again when he saw it was 4:30 am. Tuesday O'Reilly woke then up at five, Wednesday it was three, and yesterday she let them have a bit of a lie in and woke them up at 5:05 am. Every morning it had been the same, she would blast her whistle, then bang on all the doors until every first year seeker was up and out. She would then drag them outside and proceed with 'Morning Wake Up Fun' as she labeled it. To everyone else it was her 'Morning Torture Session'.

Harry thought that Healing classes would be a nice break from all the physical exertion, but it wasn't. Their instructor was a very big, very tall Frenchman named Jean-Louis. That was his name. No first name, no last name, just Jean-Louis. He would teach in his heavy accent and randomly during class he would throw candy at the students he caught zoning out. No one could eat the candy because O'Reilly had everyone on a strict diet. When he wasn't lecturing he had them all running around and demonstrating how an accident may occur, and then proceeded to heal the person, if they really did get hurt. It was an interesting class from the parts he could understand, but the magic and energy that was needed for healing spells was rough. Harry had told himself to send Madam Pomfrey a gift for every time she had to heal him in the past.

Besides Healing classes, the seekers were put through a rigorous physical program all day long. They would get a break for actual sit down classes, but lately the instructors would make them jog on the spot and listen, or do some type of exercise, so they were constantly moving. The only good thing to come from all the exercise was O'Reilly had set up a snack program. Twice in the morning someone would stop by with water and fruit for the seekers to replenish their energy stores, since everyone's appetite doubled. They would also have someone stop by twice in the afternoon, and instructors had started randomly yelling 'WATER', so the seekers would stop and take a water break. With everything going on Harry had yet to respond to Ron and Hermione, but he barely had the strength to crawl into bed, never mind lifting a quill.

To top it all off, he hadn't been able to talk to Oliver. Anytime he had seen his sponsor, the Keeper had to run off to deal with his students, or personal business. He mentioned this to the other seekers and they all voiced their concerns about their own sponsors all being unavailable. Malfoy had joined them yesterday for lunch and had mentioned having the same issue with O'Reilly.

_Harry had just started eating when he felt someone sitting beside him. Looking up he noticed Malfoy had taken the empty chair."Hey Malfoy..."_

"_Quiet Potter, I'm not here to socialize. Blaise is busy and the other tables are full." The blond said while sending him a glare._

"_Right.. ." Harry turned back to his food and berated himself for thinking that the blond would ever be a civil person. _

"_Har, have you managed to talk to your sponsor yet?" Will asked. Focusing his attention on the Australian instead of the blond, Harry turned in his seat to talk._

"_No he keeps saying he's busy. Has anyone else managed to have a more than a 5 word conversation with their sponsor?" he asked the group._

"_No" Blackcastle announced quickly in her sharp tone. Canon only shook her head and Sven shrugged his shoulder._

"_You mean all the sponsors have been withdrawn?" Harry blinked when he heard the drawl from beside him._

"_Have you had problems with O'Reilly too?" Harry asked quickly, in case the blond decided to ignore their existence again._

"_Yes. The only times I see her are during her morning fun class, or at night for cocoa. I just assumed she was busy." He replied. _

_The response confused Harry. He knew that Malfoy and O'Reilly were close, just by how they acted around one another. The only time he had seen Malfoy smile, it was directed at the QM. Also, if O'Reilly had been his sponsor and coach since October, why would she suddenly stop? Harry didn't have time to ponder this, since Will was tugging on his arm to go to class._

Harry had managed to dress himself while he was thinking and stand outside his door, for the rest of the seekers to be ready. Every morning they had to wait by their doors until everyone was ready and then they travelled as a group to the pitch. O'Reilly wanted to promote teamwork this way. When Will had finally managed to drag himself out of his room, the group were about to start walking when O'Reilly stopped them.

"Hold on!" Everyone stopped and directed their half asleep gaze in her direction. "I'm not taking you out this morning for PT, but I did wake you to tell you that tonight during dinner there will be a meeting for all the seekers. Meet in classroom G23." When all she received was blank stares, she smiled at them and continued.

"Great, I have some personal business, See you tonight!" She gave them a small wave and skipped off.

"She voke us up this early vor no'ting?" Sven said to finally break the silence O'Reilly left behind.

"I wonder what personal business she has to attend to." Harry blinked when he heard the soft voice of Canon. He was also curious but didn't think it was right to go snooping in O'Reilly's personal business.

"She probably has to do damage control. Her team has recently had a huge scandal." Blackcastle replied.

"Team?" Will joined the conversation.

"Honestly you want to be professional quidditch players, but you can't even keep up to date on the International quidditch standings." Blackcastle sneered at Will and Harry who both had confused faces. "O'Reilly is the Captain of the American quidditch team. She has been their seeker for four years now. Their rumoured to be the favourite for the world cup this year. In the American Quidditch Digest, they have an entire five page spread dedicated to her. I'll let you borrow the issue." With that Blackcastle turned and stalked back into her room. When she reappeared she handed the magazine to Will.

"Now there's still time for a nap before breakfast and I fully intend on using it to my advantage." Blackcastle snipped out and then returned to her room. Harry turned to address the other seekers and noticed that at some point Malfoy had slipped away.

"Well anyone else want to read up on O'Reilly." Harry felt kind of bad about reading about O'Reilly, but at the same time justified the action, by the fact that it was only an article and it was in a magazine, so wasn't really an invasion of privacy.

Canon and Sven decided to join them in Harry's room to read the article. It took a bit of time to decide who would read aloud since Will and Sven both wanted to, but Canon and Harry agreed their accents would make it too hard to understand. They decided on canon since Harry wanted to avoid having all their gazes on him.

"_Recently the American quidditch fans have been in an uproar over the supposed allegations that captain Heather O'Reilly has had her team taking muggle steroids to improve their performance. An inside source has gone to the press stating that they seen O'Reilly personally inject the steroids into the players while sitting in the locker room after practice. They backed their statement up by stating that since O'Reilly has taken over the team their performance has vastly improved and that could only be the cause of the muggle performance enhancers." _The small group sat in a stunned silence after that.

"Do you really think O'Reilly would do that?" Harry asked the others.

"Nah, she loves quidditch to much to insult the sport like that." Will replied.

"but her team did show astounding improvement when she took over." Canon softly spoke to the others.

"Look at her training program. Any vone vould improve affer going through all that." Sven seemed to oddly defend O'Reilly.

"Well... maybe..." Harry trailed off after remembering Malfoy.

"Vhat do you mean?" Sven asked.

"Well it's just that Malfoy could never beat me in quidditch before but after O'Reilly took over he seemed so much better in the air. He almost beat me in our last match but now that I think about it, I think he purposely didn't catch the snitch, and then his performance on the first day. How did he catch so many snitches against the rest of us?" Harry really didn't want to cause trouble but he was plagued by these questions. Malfoy's performance just improved so greatly that the idea of O'Reilly giving him performance enhancers seemed a little bit plausible.

"Well that does seem to work against her." Canon spoke up.

"Und she does seem awfully confident in Malfoy" Sven agreed.

"No! The three of you are barmy. O'Reilly would never do that, and you should just accept that Malfoy is the best seeker so far." Will seemed sincerely upset over the conversation. Before any of them could respond he stormed out of the room to reveal Malfoy standing outside. Malfoy shot the three of the a poisonous glare before walking after Will.

Harry felt ashamed at the entire conversation. They didn't know anything about O'Reilly but they instantly jumped to the conclusion that accusations against her were true. The other two seemed shocked at Will's uncharacteristic display to say anything, so Harry made the first move.

"I think I'm going to the gym for a bit then shower." That said he rose and left the other two in the middle of his room, with the open magazine.

o.O.o

During dinner that night the seekers gathered in the designated classroom. The six first years sat at the desks while the four second years hung in the back quietly talking to each other.

Will sat to one side beside Malfoy completely ignoring Harry, Sven and Canon. Black either didn't know what happened or didn't care since she was being her usual self, while the last three sat together in silence. Just as Harry started to get impatient, the door opened to admit O'Reilly in black sweat pants and a green t-shirt.

"Evening everyone! So I have a treat for you this Sunday. We're going to watch a professional quidditch match and meet the players. Later we'll do like a workshop and have a mock quidditch game." O'Reilly sat on top of the teachers desk bouncing excitedly after the announcement. Everyone gave a small cheer at that but it seemed O'Reilly wasn't quite finished yet.

"Also it's time I informed the first years of one little thing." That instantly caught the first year seekers attention. "How many second year seekers do you see?" Harry was confused at the question but it was soon answered.

"Four" Blackcastle quickly snapped out.

"Correct. I only except four seekers into the program. The first month is like a third elimination process. I will process all data I gathered on all of you and then two seekers will go home. The ones remaining will get the full EQA experience after that." This seemed to stun the six first years. "One more thing!" The first years groaned, what else could she possibly spring on them in one meeting? "Next weekend is Family and Friends day! So invite your family and friends to come visit you." With that O'Reilly jumped off the desk, and grabbed Malfoy's hand before dragging him out.

"Is she serious?" Canon turned and asked the second years.

"Completely. There's a rumour that her first year as QM she kicked all but one seeker out of the school because she found the others hopeless." A tall boy with long black hair in a low ponytail told them.

That seemed to put the first years in a contemplative silence all over again.

"Do you know when the people she chooses to kick out usually know by?" Blackcastle asked. Her sharp tone seemed slightly hesitant.

A short girl with curly red hair answered her. "By the end of the month she will have her final candidates. She could remove you in the middle of the night or the middle of the day. Last year she stormed into one our healing classes grabbed one of the males and we never saw him again."

"It's why you don't see your sponsors for the first month. There's no point in them wasting time to help and train you when you are only going to get kicked out. After the first month is done, you'll notice them being more open." The tall boy told them.

Harry was just to emotionally exhausted at this point. First things this morning he had to deal with the whole 'is O'Reilly bad' thing, then hellish classes and exercises, and now the potential to be kicked out of the academy when he thought he was done with all this preliminary stuff. Giving a huge sigh, harry stood and left to return to his room and write Ron and Hermione.

_Dear Hermione and Ron,_

_I had no clue what I was getting into when I signed up for this. The Quidditch Master O'Reilly is a sadist. We wake up at random times in the morning to her whistle, whether it be 4 am or 2 am. There's classes all day right until dinner and then everyone is too exhausted to do anything but crawl into bed and sleep until O'Reilly wake us up again. _

_Mione I was wondering if you could further research O'Reilly. There's some scandal happening in the U.S that involves her and I was hoping you could get more information about it._

_Anyways guys, next week is a 'Family and Friends' day and I was hoping you could come. You could explore the campus and stuff and see the training facilities. I'm inviting Sirius and Remus as well, and I really hope you both can make. _

_Ron do you think you could ask your family if they want to come as well. I don't think there's a limit to how many people you can invite, and I really missed staying at The Burrow this summer._

_I have lots more I want to tell the both of you but I can barely lift the quill anymore. _

_Night guys, and I miss you both._

_Harry.

* * *

_

**I wonder who I should kick out**

**Any suggestions?  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note:

With university, work, and other real life events, I no longer have the time to write. I would hate to see this story completely abandoned, so I'm putting it up for adoption. Maybe in time when life slows down, I can return to it, but for now It's up for anyone to take and make their own.

If someone does take this story, I will post the new author so everyone can enjoy their take on it.


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